The Careers Vs Katniss
by followinggoodbyes
Summary: The scene where Katniss is chased by the Careers and Peeta from the lake, except she's caught, and is about to face her death.  *Some parts are changed*
1. Cato

I woke up not where I expected. All I saw was green and my bed was rough and hard on my body. My pillow was a 93 degree angle vertical thick line. I quickly gathered that it was a tree, and that I hadn't woken up in my normal bed back home in District 12, but rather the 74th Hunger Games area. Never had I wanted reality to be this hard and true.

I guess everything was normal at the moment, it seemed to be dawn, and there weren't any signs of other tributes anywhere. It seemed fair to untie my rope and make my way down the tree I used for shelter last night.

I, having my foggy morning mind, jumped off the trunk a little too soon. I fell to the ground from about 6 feet. The impact on the forest ground was hard and painful. Not a great start to a day I wasn't looking forward to. My feet ached from my fall. I couldn't walk properly but I had to try if I wanted to make through the morning.

I found a bundle of nuts that I recognized as perfectly safe to eat. I collected them and placed them in my bag, then headed for the lake to collect some water that would hold me for a few hours. Going long without water or any kind of liquid was pure agony, I couldn't take it.

From a distance I heard the familiar sound of rushing water and knew I was close to the lake.

Once I made it, I went down close to the water, and scooped my can into it. I took a small sip to get me energized to hunt for some food, and then closed the cap shut.

Just then, I heard noises from the other side of the lake. My head shot up from the water and towards the direction of the noise.

Right at that moment I saw the faces of Cato, Marvel, Glimmer, and Clove. The Careers. Lastly, I saw the image of messy blonde hair and a prominent jaw line. Peeta.

I couldn't afford for them to find me, so as quietly as I could I rushed away from my spot and back into the trees. Sadly my plan didn't work so smoothly.

"Hey, there she is!" I heard one of them shout. Their racing footsteps helped give me signs of how close they were getting to me.

I darted straight back into the woods, and tried my best to ignore the pain from my feet. I spotted a tree that would help me escape from the brutal tributes.

I was able to make it about 20 feet above the ground before Cato had made it to the bottom of the tree trunk.

"I'm comin' for you, baby!" I heard him shout to me. The way he used the word "baby" sickened me.

Luckily, I heard a grunt, then a crunching noise of his body hitting twigs and branches on the floor. Thank god I lost him.

"Here I'll do it!" I heard Glimmer shout, getting ready to aim her bow. I could already see her format was pitiful. That arrow was going nowhere near my body.

Just as I expected, the arrow went shooting right past my head. I laughed to myself a little.

"Enough with the bow!" Clove yelled at Glimmer, obviously ashamed of her fellow Career's skills at archery.

My eyes grew wide when I saw Clove aim the knife to throw at me. I saw her practice in the Training Center: I was in trouble.

Before I could ready myself for defense, Clove had thrown the knife at my direction, and it sunk deeply into my leg.

I screamed and lost my balance. Before I know it, my body was falling through the air and it hit the ground. The wind was knocked out of me and I gasped for air, still moaning in pain from the impact of the knife.

I saw Peeta in the corner of the circle we 5 tributes made. His face looked like he was in pain as well which confused me.

Cato strolled towards me, holding his sword in his right hand.

"Well, well, well. Ms. Everdeen, we have finally caught you. After days of being in the arena, you were the one we wanted to kill personally" He admitted to me. He bent down to me and grazed my cheeks with the blade of his sword.

"Wait, stop!" Peeta protested. Marvel blocked his way to Cato and grabbed Peeta's wrists together.

"Ah, I knew you'd come back around to your loving side. Good thing we found this out now than later on in the Games. I guess this way, you get to watch us kill your girlfriend" Cato smirked at Peeta.

He then turned his head and attention back towards me.

"Now, where should we start? I want to make this a good kill, you know, the audience and all" He winked at me. I could feel vomit starting to come up. I couldn't move anything because of the fall. I wasn't supposed to die like this, I was meant to win and return home to Prim and Gale.

Cato looked around at my body then stopped at my left arm.

"Mmm, perfect" He said before plunging a dagger into my flesh.


	2. Clove

I couldn't believe how much pain one, not including the dagger that was still sticking out of my thigh, impact could be. Cato's stab into my forearm brought my blood _pouring_ down my arm. I could hear Peeta, his yells and pleas for him to stop. _Maybe Peeta wasn't turning against me, but rather helping me by being with the Careers._

My voice grew hoarse from screaming so much. Cato's mouth curved into an accomplished smile and Glimmer and Clove were smiling also, but with their arms crossed, as if what Cato had done wasn't enough for them. They wanted more.

"What? That not enough for you all?" Cato asked his allies friendly, taking his attention from me to them.

If I could move, that would've been my cue to get to my feet and book it. But things weren't so fortunate.

"Oh please, this is a _television show_, Cato. You've got to be better than that!" Clove complained. She was taking charge of my death now. Fuck.

She kneeled down to my lying body on the ground and swung out one of her daggers. She looked over to my thigh, which was covered in blood and was shaking, and fake pouted.

"Aw, did I hurt the little girl on fire?" She asked sarcastically while patting hard on the dagger's handle, causing it to go deeper and deeper into my flesh. I cringed, winced, and moaned from this little bit of torture.

She traced the dagger she possessed currently on my cheeks, then traveling down to my neck and to my stomach. She made a circle movement right at my heart with the blade.

"I wonder how slow it takes for a blade to reach the heart if done so slow and steadily…" She said aloud, foreshadowing how I was to die. She wasn't going to make this quick. Clove planned on digging into my skin, flesh, nerves, bones, and whatever else was in there until she reached my heart. Then, that's when my heart would be pierced.

"Well then, why should we waste time? Let's begin…" Clove announced sadistically. She readied her hand, positioned the dagger, and began to make her way through the first centimeter of my flesh.


	3. Marvel

There wasn't much damage when Clove had stopped the digging.

"Wait- stop!" Cato burst out. He ran to Clove, kicked her away and grabbed her dagger.

"There are more ways we can go about this, you guys! You don't think slowly cutting into this piece of filth is going to satisfy the Capitol, do you?" He asked the group of Careers. They muttered different responses but had the general "No" in common.

"That's right. I think we should let Marvel have a turn at Everdeen" Cato smirked at Marvel, then winked his eyes right at me. _What was that supposed to mean?_

Marvel had a longing expression on his face when he walked slowly towards my laying body. He bent down and came to my face. He gently smelled me, and then twirled my hair around.

I saw his muscles flex, and then he ripped out some of my hair. I _screamed_. The pain lasted long after the impact hit me.

I opened my eyes to allow some tears to come out and from the corner of my eye I saw Peeta thrashing about in the strong hold of Cato.

"Hey, Glimmer?" Marvel finally spoke. He still had his eyes on me with that longing look while speaking.

"Yeah?" Glimmer replied.

"I was thinking, you think you could help me with my bow and arrow practice?"

Glimmer's face lit up as she understood what Marvel was leading at.

"It'd be my pleasure" She had the largest grin of her face. I was still trying to comprehend what was about to happen. All this blood loss and pain that I was focusing on, the future didn't matter to me.

Marvel stood up and pulled my hair up so I'd stand with him. My bad leg didn't want to stand so I fell limp, but still raised up because of Marvel's hold on my hair. It pulled and pulled, the stinging pain coming and coming.

He dragged me to the tree that I had fallen out of. Glimmer threw some rope to him and Marvel did his job.

He tied some rope to each of my wrists and tied them to some branches that were high up so I was in an "x" position. Glimmer grabbed some more rope and tied my ankles to the tree trunk so I would try anything sneaky: _Like I could in my state of health._

Glimmer grabbed her bow and arrows and handed them to Marvel. And now I understood what was going to happen. I was their target for target practice.

"Now, you just want to hold the bow at a straight angle and latch the arrow on the bow's string. Then pull back and shoot!" She said enthusiastically. She obviously couldn't wait until the result of Marvel's first shot.

I shut my eyes tight as I heard the pop of the arrow coming off of the bow and it made its impact.

It sunk deep in my shoulder. The pain was like nothing I've ever experienced. It went through a few inches through my touch skin and bones.

"Great job! Time for more!" Glimmer encouraged Marvel.

The arrow was stuck in my shoulder and my blood came out more and more each time I'd breathe. I was beginning to see darkness when I saw Marvel position the next arrow.


End file.
